1689 July
Marie knew what her plan would involve.
1) Getting past the living wall of punching-trees that now ringed Glendale on the look out
for Marie and her friends in particular.
2) Getting past the locals who likely had a fog in their minds that super imposed the image
of Marie and her friends as dangerous.
3) Getting past the possible sentient and ever shape shifting ring of thorns that protected
the witch's house.
4) Getting past a pride of LEOMAN armed with CANNONS three hundred years ahead of
their time.
5) Getting past the horde of child familiars who channeled the witches' magic and could
turn the hunters into mushrooms if they so wished.
6) And the female gargoyle protecting the witches' house with her life as any good
gargoyle would.
7) And THEN there were the mundane reinforced doors and windows and ordinary human
work hands the witches had about.
8) And finally it would be time to deal with the witches and their familiars.
Marie felt a headache, 'Most of the time when I broke into a location the people on the
look out had no idea I existed... these witches know I do, and they've seen what each of us
is capable of... this isn't going to be easy.'
Linus checked and rechecked his preciously repaired musket, he wasn't about to allow it to
be damaged by a cheap trick of magic a second time.
Kathrine looked at her growing blue and pink fur... 'My green accents haven't grown back
yet, too bad.' Marie personally felt that Kathrrine looked better without the green accents,
made her fur look more garish, but Marie had learned how personal and sensitive the little
felmans could get about their fur color so Marie said nothing on that subject.
+++++++
The religious teacher Monica looked in the mirror, she was much the same as she had
been the day before. 'If I'm aging backwards, then at least it seems to be in days rather
than years like everyone else.
She passed the other women who had been assigned the task of teaching the next
generation, before she had to look up at them, now they were all equal in height or actually
a little shorter! And they were always smiling gay now. Not quite proper puritan behavior.
But what actually frightened Monica, was when she asked each former woman on the
subject she'd reply with the same smile the same exact answer,
"Adults are mean, adults are cruel, adult are bad, isn't it much better to be a child?" They
were still teaching what they were supposed to in class, but they were much easier
distracted, and were quick to end the lessons early.
Monica shivered. 'At least no one seems to be treating me like a child anymore.' Monica
gasped when she saw a half naked little boy, and a very young man holding his hand as
they were in the market. 'Joshua?... Is that his son?' The young man who had been lining
up to take his father's business from him was now just a child again. And the little boy's
father seemed to be close behind him (or was that in front of him?).
People seemed to be ignoring their horses more, and their clothes, as they got too big for
them to handle. Monica shivered what might happen as the black smith reached child age
and tried to do his job.
The lioness Rosa Daleson also noticed things were different and odd. The same lionesses
who had only begrudgingly allowed her to go on her first hunt do to her chronological age
and had treated her still like a cub on a mock practice hunt, were now barely older than
her, some were eye level with her. And when Rosa had asked if they noticed they answered.
"Adults are mean, adults are cruel, adult are bad, isn't it much better to be a child?" And
then went back to what they were doing, which was just as often working as playing.
She also noticed a leoman cub seemed to be alarmed and confused as her, though she
might have been just scared from the wave of miscarriages that had struck down on
Glendale earlier that month.